WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

[Hermit]

(With thanks, apologies to Jos Whedon for the episode that inspired it)

 

Your character is going on his/her usual routine, when all over the city, people, either in groups, or as individuals begin to break out into song... somehow with background music provided. While the styles vary (some rock and roll, some go broadway, etc) one thing that occurs is an honest display of how the singer feels, and sometimes even their secrets.

 

What would your character do about the situation?

What would your character's song be like/about? (And in what style?)

and how would they deal with the fallout after coming so clean about their feelings...

and possibly embarrasing themselves to boot.

[Badger]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Badger, no not damn musical, reality a musical?, please , no (badger blows up city)

 

What?

 

 

Oh and some heavy metal will be perfect for badger

 

 

I mean really this is one of those things that would cause the failure of a SAN check:eek:

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

I don't think any of my three characters would be able to carry a tune very well.

 

Uncle Slam would sing a song with sort of a military march backing it, then likely lapse into something to the tune of "From Here to Eternity" as he thinks about the girl he once had, before recapturing the song's original stride.

 

Though he's the most closed off emotionally of the three characters, he'd be the one to handle it best: By not handling it at all. He'd never bring it up at all and just shoulder on.

 

Anthem is the most passionate of the three. She doesn't know popular music, so hers definitely reaches into the show tunes range. Her song would be about an obsession with being perfect, with not doing anything wrong and setting an example.

 

Ironically, the act of singing all this would be counter to what she wanted. She'd feel embarassed, and anyone who witnessed this would not see her for quite a while as she did her crime fighting solo and out of the spotlight until she recovers.

 

Audra Blue would sing about being abandoned. For all the things that have happened and all the people around her who now are concerned with her, she can't look past the fact that everyone eventually leaves her.

 

I'd say this would be cathartic in most cases, but here it's something she already knows, even before she saw a psychiatrist; It's just something she can't see past.

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

OK, now as to answer the 'what would they do?' question, unless otherwise directed I'm going to assume that it's the same *cause* as in OMWF -- i.e., somebody summoned Sweet the musical demon.

 

Starguard -- ironically, the original inspiration for Starguard's personality /came/ from a song.

 

"Luna's Boat Song"

from Lunar: Silver Star Story

 

 

Wishing on a dream that seems far off

Hoping it will come today

Into the starlit night

Foolish dreamers turn their gaze

Waiting on a shooting star...

 

But, what if that star is not to come?

Will their dreams fade to nothing?

When the horizon darkens most

We all need to believe there is hope

 

Is an angel watching closely over me?

Can there be a guiding light I've yet to see?

I know my hear should guide me, but

There's a hole within my soul

 

What will fill this emptiness inside of me?

Am I to be satisfied without knowing?

I wish, then, for a chance to see

Now all I need, (desperately)

Is my star to come...

 

mp3 available here.

 

As for what she'd do -- Starguard has always-on Sense Magic, Discriminatory, Analyze, Ranged. (Actually, she's got mystic-based cosmic awareness, which I built to cover the Physical, Energy, Life Energy, and Magic sense groups simultaneously, like a blanket. And man, did it cost.)

 

So she'd simply fly to where the mystical energy was coming from, take the dancing demon, and drop-kick him into lunar orbit.

 

Fallout from coming clean after feelings -- none. Helene /always/ comes clean with her feelings. She doesn't just wear her heart on her sleeve, she supplements it with a scrolling billboard.

 

Dr. Pain

 

Would royally embarass himself by belting out something in the style of Gilbert & Sullivan, about how annoying it is to always be taken for a goon when he actually has an M.B.A.

 

Wouldn't know the first thing about magic, although if you can show him where the problem is, he can punch it real good.

 

Would be the first guy to take the "Let us shall never speak of this again." approach after it was all over.

 

Baron von Darien

 

Two words -- grand opera. Something as powerful as the last movement of _Faust_, or a climactic moment in the Ring Cycle, that speaks of enormous pain and undying will over centuries, and ends on a note of grim triumph achieved by great sacrifices, and the sort of stubborn pride that glories in such.

 

He'd make his obnoxiously high KS: Mystic Lore roll, realize that this was yet another manifestation of Sweet, do some detective work and/or call in a favor from a more sorcerously inclined friend for a detect magic spell, find the center of disturbance, and go make stabby.

 

Oh look, the Baron hunted down another demon. It must be Tuesday.

 

Dealing with coming clean -- he would feel uncomfortable that that much of what makes him tick is now known to other people... when you have as many enemies as he does, it's a survival trait to not let people know what you're thinking. He has far too much sang-froid to ever let people see him sweat about it, however, so he'd simply ignore followup questions with dignity (and or an intimidating stare, depending on the questioner).

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Soulbarb if in hero ID would do her best not to sing, to the point of covering up her mouth and running for someplace where, if she must, she can do so with no-one around to hear. Nobody wants to hear a demon sing. If in normal ID, her song could be about how adults never expect a kid to be competent and able to make their own way without an adult looking over their shoulder all the time to keep them 'safe.' Or it could be about how angry she sometimes gets with her parents. It would probably sound a lot like typical teen angst music.

 

Glaive and Beastwarden would be singing in their native language, so no-one in the last few dozen thousand years will be able to understand them anyway.

 

Diva probably will break into one of any number of songs she's already recorded about the benefits and price of fame.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Style - Would sing about his father, and redemption, probably Broadway show tunes style. Afterwards he'd be very upset about it, and start trying to divine who was responsible.

 

Flesh Gordon - Would narate his long, strange career rock opera style, background music and voice effects by Queen. In combat, he would be followed by a 70s porno sound track. There's a good chance that he woldn't notice anything unusual about any of this.

 

Flesh's theme (stollen from obvious sources)

Flesh - a-ah - saviour of the universe

Flesh - a-ah - he'll save everyone of us

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Flesh - a-ah - he's a miracle

Flesh - a-ah - king of the impossible

 

He's for everyone of us

Stand for everyone of us

He'll save with a mighty hand

Every man every woman

Every child - with a mighty Flesh

 

Flesh - a-ah

Flesh - a-ah - he'll save everyone of us

 

Just a man

With a man's courage

He knows nothing but he can

But he can never fail

All the loves that seek his heart

In rage and rapture wail

Oh oh - oh oh

Flesh

 

 

The Tick-Tock Man - Probably a rock-blues number about life in the city, though the Dragnet rap would be appropriate. Afterwards, he'd be hard-pressed to deal with the problem. He'd probably use his massive City Knowledge to find a qualified occultist and go from there.

[hooligan x]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Wait... Dr. Pain only has a MBA? I thought he was a doctor?

 

Lillith and Angus would get stuck with the retro-pastice that would never be a breakaway pop hit.

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Wait... Dr. Pain only has a MBA? I thought he was a doctor?

 

"Dr. Pain" was his stage name when he was a pro wrestler.

[Whitewings]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Faye: Something upbeat, maybe anime-inspired. Unlike Marvel-style teen supers, she *likes* having powers. OK, maintaining a secret ID can be a pain, but she's got a pretty canny idea of how hard finishing out grade 12 would be if she became a major celebrity (and in the eyes of at least some people, a weapon/resource that must be theirs). That being said, she'd feel obligated to at least try to track down the twit responsible and give him a lesson in manners. And self-defense (congratulations, you're today's practice dummy).

 

Champion Wind: As Liane, folk all the way. She's a second-generation hippie, what do you expect? As Champion Wind, think more along the lines of Les Miserables in its more operatic moments. If the cause is a demon or similar, he's going to eat an arrow or three, with a helping of axe for desert. If it's a really weird Special, she's going to rip him a few new (figurative)orifices.

 

Ika: She doesn't predate music, but she does predate complex harmonies. Think of African or Amazon tribal music, but in a language nobody alive today knows. She knows rhythm, melody, and that's about it. Then find the demon and kill it.

[mikesama]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Snapdragon If around her family it would start out in a very sad and quiet tone in a 'why can't you see what you're doing to me' which would shift to a powerful and angry condemnation of her family for treating her the way they do.

 

Quantum would start singing a love song to a certain NPC who is identical to his love interest in the 1/2 second off alternate dimesion he's from.

 

Heaven's sword would be total Japanese punk yelling about all of the abuses his father heaped on him as a child which would probably make most people around him cringe when he starts talking about how he was first slashed across the stomach at age six and all the other physical and mental abuse he went through.

[steriaca]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Lady Heart: Something defently j-pop, in the "magical girl opeing theam" style. And as long as s/he dosen't blurt out that s/he is realy a guy under all that yin/yang magic, eveything would be fine. And even if s/he did mention that fact, as long as s/he dosen't reveal his/her secret ID, that would be alright.

 

Sunburn: Burn's song would proably be something upbeat and fun. Like, prehaps, naming all of the superbeings he knows of (not just met), via name in song (in a "We Diden't Start The Fire" kind a way).

 

The Damsel: Dixieland Jazz, baby. With a hint of "Pricella, Queen Of The Desert" style drag glam.

[Powerhouse]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

I'm not particularly good with remembering songs off the top of my head (lyrics to said songs, I'm fine though).

 

Let's see... Lady Silver would probably be adult contemporary about feeling lost as everyone looks to her to guidance. Something about wearing a mask to hide the loneliness.

 

Nova: would range between something from Rage again the machine as she bashes a bad guy to English translated sappy J-pop (with wind instruments in the background) as she pines away for Lady Silver

 

Starknight: it'll be hard rock and invoke images of Joan Jett at her most harcore. It'll be about doing whatever the hell you want and live life to the fullest.

 

Tyr: Epic opera ala anything based on Nordic mythlogy. Heck, he'd probably have "ride of the Valkyre" sound as he arrives on scene! How cool would that be?

[TheRavenIs]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Cosmic Blue Ok, she's just become human that was a battle android, aka KOS-MOS style. So she'd sing about how happy she is to be human and also how happy she is to be alive. The style would be in Anime, and in a combo of Japanese and English.

 

Flame A teen aged mutant Human Torch, 15 and Japanese, who is into anime and american comics. It would be about he's enjoyment of having powers and also the responsibilty that came from them. The style would be Japanese high opera and in Japanese.

 

Storm Shard Mutant Ice Elemental, she'd be singing abot how hard it is to be a hero and how hard you have to work at it. She just faced a personal failure, she was unable to stop hundreds of people from being killed. The style would be jazz/blues and in Norwidgen.

 

Night Shade She'd run as fast as she can to someplace where no-one could hear her, then find the responsible party and well, mystic Ninja, it.

[Powerhouse]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Starguard -- ironically, the original inspiration for Starguard's personality /came/ from a song.

 

 

Quote:

"Luna's Boat Song"

from Lunar: Silver Star Story

 

Cool! I didn't know that but I've always loved that song. Now that you mentioned it, it does seem to fit.

 

As for what she'd do -- Starguard has always-on Sense Magic, Discriminatory, Analyze, Ranged. (Actually, she's got mystic-based cosmic awareness, which I built to cover the Physical, Energy, Life Energy, and Magic sense groups simultaneously, like a blanket. And man, did it cost.)

 

I'm working on a character or two who could benefit from that as well. I do have a question though on how to keep everything balanced. It seems to detect *anything* and *everything* Unless you bought invisibility to all sorts of senses (or does it have to be mystic), it seems as if you could short circuit just about any type of adventure:

 

"New Sentinels, we need to find the stolen weapon X!"

Starguard: 500 miles north, 40 miles west.... and two miles straight up.

GM: crap... not again!

 

What can it detect? And not detect. If it has discriminatory and life energy, can it find specific people? And if it's sense, it's always on and with such a broad range of things to detect, does she have to "filter" things out?

 

Thanks.

[sinanju]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Hell's Angel would be mortified to find herself a) confessing her most secret thoughts and feelings--they're secret for a *reason*, dammit!--and doing it in song, to boot! If she did it in a country-western style, she'd be doubly mortified.

 

The Musical* Man-Ape, a thinly-disguised Bruce Campbell transformed into the Beast of X-Men fame, would be amused and entertained by it all. He'd probably wind up doing some kind of show-stopping number complete with random strangers swept up into his grand song-n-dance production.

 

*Every issue of the Man-Ape comic (if there were such a thing) would employ a different adjective starting with the letter M, so this works into it very well. The manly, mutant, magnificent, miniscule, mighty, multi-talented, mutilated, murderous...Man-Ape could easily be musical too.

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

> "New Sentinels, we need to find the stolen weapon X!"

> Starguard: 500 miles north, 40 miles west.... and two miles straight

> up. GM: crap... not again!

 

> What can it detect? And not detect. If it has discriminatory and life

> energy, can it find specific people? And if it's sense, it's always on and

> with such a broad range of things to detect, does she have to "filter"

> things out?

 

The main thing that keeps it from being a game breaker is that it still falls within the normal rules for senses -- I have to make a PER roll, and I have to do it with range penalties. And she does /not/ have MegaScale or Telescopic on the range... and while she can use her VPP to temporarily have those, since a VPP can be used to purchase a Special Power (such as Enhanced Senses) only with DM permission, I have to ask permission -- on a case-by-case basis -- everytime I try.

 

i.e. -- I can only close my eyes and clairvoyantly divine the location of the plot macguffin 200 miles away if the DM /wants/ me to clairvoyantly divine the location of the plot macguffin 200 miles away, to save himself hours of game time waiting for us to stumble over it. It's amazing how much you can get away with during chargen if you point out to the DM how this lets him facilitate his plots better.

 

He /has/ given up on using plots that require shapeshifted infiltrators, however -- she sees 'em every time

 

And normally, she doesn't have to filter things out -- it's Cosmic Awareness, after all, being aware of everything around her is the shtick. I did take a Susceptibility based on Things That Man Was Not Meant To Know, however... you don't *WANT* to look at a Qlippothian horror, or the soul of Takofanes, or etc. with Cosmic Awareness... because what you See there will be making your brains run out your ears.

[ghost-angel]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Jessica - is a Blues musician, and would immediately sing a very moving and very bluesy song, with breaks for a harmonica solo - her prefered instrument. It would outline her tragic life, all 98 years of it, appropriate to the style.

 

Silence - is mute, so she'd either have an industrial or metal intrusmental as a theme. Either that the song that helped inspire the character would play as background: Motorhead's "I Don't Believe A Word"

[steriaca]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

D'Ho...I forgot The Red Death (a "hero" for a V&V game which became a Champions game...3rd edition I think...or was it 4th? Anyways, I made him into a murderous vigalantie in my "Heropaloza" thread).

 

Basicly, The Red Death's song would be a furinal drige, with lots of black comidy verses within. Each time he gets to a cours, he kills another drug dealer or drug user. And the song? It would be about his secret...that he realy enjoys killing, and hopes that people would continue to sell and use drugs so that his chosen targets would never run out.

[Haven Walkur]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Gamma Girl of the Legion of Superheroes: "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence. Haven's the original Girl In The Bubble, though her 'bubble' is an almost- unbreachable forcefield, form-fitting, always on. And no, she doesn't eat, drink or excrete; she 'feeds' on yellow sun radiation.

 

Pendragon of His Majesty's Armed Forces (1942): "Land of Hope and Glory". The tune is actually Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance", and you probably heard it at your high school graduation ceremony. Also "Jerusalem", which you might remember the school choir singing in the movie "Chariots of Fire."

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Eve: Super Girl from Puffy Ami Yumi, done for the power puff girls.

 

Tao: Hm, she really doesn't have much knowledge of music. If the effect swept up people around her, background singers belting out "Weird Science" might be appropriate. :)'

 

Keiko: When her "good" side is ascendent "Eye of the Tiger" when her demon nature takes over "Let the Bodies hit the floor" Probably while beating the snot out of a small group of people.

[Dr Archeville]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Dead Head -- would join in (after a bit -- he's a supernatural critter, so, like Spike, it'd take a while for him to fall to it's effects), creating a remake of Michael Jackson's Thriller video. His song would probably be very similar to Thriller, too.

 

Doktor Archeville -- would dislike allt he chaos, but would sing about his visions for a Utopian technological future. One made by him, on the broken backs of all who opposed his 'forced improvements'. The song/dance would be a German oom-pah-pah style.

[ParagonAlpha]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Hmmm

 

Paragon; As guardian of the world, champion of all that as good, and hated by most of the PC's his song would be very much an opera, long, detailed and filled with angst.

 

Street Elemental: Imbued with the power of the inner city, his would be a the quintessential hardcore rap.

 

Starknight: Something very ELO.

[gewing]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Stalker is an odd one. Probably be singing to an early 80s heavy metal soundtrack. Maybe some Iron Maiden. He would sing about his Rage at those who prey on innocents, and is confusion when he tries to decide how he really feels. (the Mind Master Complex's mental conditioning has some problems )

 

John Hawkshaw the Third would probably have a Para-Celtic (possibly with Electric hard rock like Tempest) soundtrack Jethro Tull's "Broadsword" might work too. He would sing about The honor of his Grandfather, and doing all he can to protect others, Probably his constant worry that the Bales would manage to follow his Grandfather here. With a lifetime of training by one of the premier melee combatants in the world (Grandfather) and the size, strength, and speed to deal with anything "non-super, and many "super" threats, he might well find himself wading through a battle not realizing his strikes, blocks, rolls, and footwork are perfectly meshed with the music.

 

I've thought of something similar for a theme music "power" or maybe just a powerful stereo.

[BcAugust]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Cyrande would be singing a very dirge like/grand opera song, about how she has to hide her feelings away from everyone. Then she'd likely kill whomever did this, once the rest of the team found them.... aka really, really hates having her feelings revealed.

 

Nox would likely get something 80 movie like, and have a lot of fun going after the person. very inspirational as well.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD? "Once more, with Justice"

 

Astro-Knight-Caught up in the music would likely begin singing something a little bit country about how he longs to explore the stars, but being a man means staying true to your responsiblities so he's stuck in Houston. He loves home, but sometimes resents it holding him back. He'd be deeply appalled by his behavior afterwards if any heard him.

 

Gaze-Something akin to Sinatra perhaps? A somewhat jaunty tune, with dark lyrics as he confeses how he wiped a man's mind out of revenge for the death of the woman he loved. How it scared the #$#$ing hell out of him after.

 

"That blank insipid grin, those wheels no longer spin, no helping the state he's in...

It's mind craft"

 

And perhaps a bit on how he no longer considers himself safe to be with women period.

 

Max Thunder-Rock ballad with intense parts that go into Rock Opera to show his dual nature where he rattles on about how confused he is about which way he wants to go. Probably would succeed in breaking his adoptive mortal parents hearts and offending his daddy Zeus.

 

Recluse-combo of new age style American Indian chants, and the old 50s (I think it was 50s) song, "Please Mister Custer" as he explains to everyone how he got drafted by Grandmother Spider.